Kremlin blasts NYT over ‘distorting’ doping comments

A major U.S. newspaper said Moscow, for the first time, has admitted to mass doping in Russia's sports system. However, the Kremlin denies it was state-sponsored, and said it will investigate comments made by Russia's Acting Director-General of the anti-doping agency. CCTV’s Julia Lyubova reports.

In an interview published by The New York Times, Anna Antseliovich is quoted as saying that doping in Russia had been an ‘institutional conspiracy’. The interview drew a mixed reaction in Russia.

Rusada lab released a statement, saying that Anna Antseliovich was citing the text of the second McLaren report into doping in Russia, which spoke of an ‘institutional conspiracy that existed across summer and winter sports athletes.

Rusada said this created the impression that the director general had admitted to a doping system. The New York Times interview comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin said there was no state-sponsored doping system at his annual press conference last Friday.

Russia admits to having doping problems as it said other countries do, and said it must do all it can to prevent the use of doping.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Russian athletes are being re-tested for doping and the 2017 bobsleigh and skeleton world championships have been moved from Sochi to the German resort Koenigssee.

The latest report by Richard McLaren, who has been investigating doping allegations in Russia, said that more than 1,000 Russian athletes, including Olympic medalists, benefited from a state-sponsored doping program between 2011 and 2015.